Tuesday, February 27, 2007

If you haven't heard by now (and I don't see how that is possible), James Cameron's latest documentary is about a collection of tombs believed to hold the remains of Jesus ... and his family.
Slated to air on the Discovery Channel this coming Sunday, The Lost Tomb of Jesus purports to present evidence that a tomb uncovered by a construction crew in Talpiot, Jerusalem, in March of 1980, contains 10 ossuaries (limestone bone boxes). And that five of those ossuaries contain the remains of key figures in the New Testament (Jesus, Mary, Matthew, Joseph and Mary Magdalene) and that another one holds "Judah Son of Jesus."
As expected, Biblical scholars and experts are questioning -- if not altogether rejecting -- the documentary's claims. And there is all sorts of chatter about the event on the blogosphere and mailing lists. One of the better responses to the story comes from the skeptical Smijer, who reminds us all of what skepticism isn't while pointing out truly skeptical responses to the film.
I'm not jumping on any bandwagon either for or against the documentary. But I will probably watch the documentary, if I am home that evening, and only to give it a fair shake. Besides, I already blogged about Jesus' tomb back in December of 2004 -- only this one is in Japan, where local tradition claims Christ died as a humble garlic farmer.

Monday, February 05, 2007

After a break of 16 centuries, Greek pagans are worshipping the ancient gods again - despite furious opposition from the Orthodox church. Helena Smith asks them why they're so keen to revive the old religion. [ Full Guardian Story ]
I think my favorite bit in this Guardian Op-Ed piece, would have to be in just the fourth paragraph:

the one-hour ceremony has achieved the near-impossible task of unnerving Greece's powerful Orthodox church... hierarchs have redirected the venom they usually reserve for homosexuals, Catholics, Jews, Jehovah's Witnesses, masons and the "barbaric" Turks at the "miserable resuscitators" of the degenerate dead religion. In fire-and-brimstone sermons priests have slammed the "satanic" New Ageists and fulminated against their idols.

Whoa. Now, the Orthodox church may not be happy about losing their only-religion-on-the-block status. But is that any reason to refer to spiritual seekers as "miserable resuscitators"? Or to call their chosen path a "degenerate dead religion"?
If the Greek pagans are truly sincere in turning to their ancestral gods and goddesses, and they feel their path is valid, who is anyone to question it? Greek mythology is no less a collection of fairy stories than the Judeo-Christian mythologies. And, yes, I feel fully justified in refering to the stories of both religions as mythologies. And I do not feel that such a term belittles either camp. It's high time folks got back to the proper use of "myth" as something epic and inspirational ... and get out of the mindset that "myth = untrue".